Job 24:1-16: a reflection

1“Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty? Why don’t those who know him see his days? 2There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them. 3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. 4They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves. 5Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children. 6They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked. 7They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. 8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter. 9There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor, 10so that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves. 11They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst. 12From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly. 13“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths. 14The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief. 15The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ He disguises his face. 16In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don’t know the light.

Job voices a struggle many honest hearts have known: the wicked oppress the poor, rob the widow and the fatherless, leave the needy naked and hungry, and yet God seems not to intervene. The wounded cry out, Job says, yet God charges no one with wrong. He is troubled that such injustice goes on, and God does not seem to act at once against it. It is an honest wrestling with the apparent delay of justice, laid openly before God.

Notice that Job brings this struggle honestly to God, rather than hiding it or pretending. He is genuinely troubled that the wicked oppress and seem to go unpunished, that God does not act against injustice as quickly as Job thinks he should. And he does not suppress this trouble; he voices it, wrestling openly with the apparent delay of justice. His is an honest lament over a real and painful mystery: why the God who sees does not always act at once against injustice.

That struggle is one we may share, and Job's honesty in bringing it to God is instructive. We too can be troubled that injustice goes on, that the wicked seem to prosper while the poor suffer, and that God does not act at once against it. We can bring this struggle honestly to God, as Job did, rather than pretending it does not trouble us. But we can also hold, over against the struggle, the assurance that God does see, and that justice, though it may seem delayed, is not denied; God has appointed times, and will judge in the end. When you are troubled by injustice that seems to go unaddressed, bring the struggle honestly to God, as Job did; but do not conclude that God does not see or will not act. He sees the oppression Job named, and though justice may seem delayed, it is not denied; entrust to God, who judges justly, the injustice you cannot right, trusting that he sees, and will act in his time.

Lord, Job voiced a struggle many honest hearts have known: the wicked oppress the poor and seem to go unpunished, and God does not seem to intervene at once; he brought this trouble openly to you, wrestling honestly with the apparent delay of justice. That struggle is one I may share, and Job's honesty is instructive. I too can be troubled that injustice goes on, that the wicked seem to prosper while the poor suffer, and that you do not act at once against it. Help me bring this struggle honestly to you, as Job did, rather than pretending it does not trouble me. But help me also hold, over against the struggle, the assurance that you do see, and that justice, though it may seem delayed, is not denied; you have appointed times, and will judge in the end. When I am troubled by injustice that seems to go unaddressed, help me bring the struggle honestly to you; but keep me from concluding that you do not see or will not act. You see the oppression Job named, and though justice may seem delayed, it is not denied; help me entrust to you, who judge justly, the injustice I cannot right, trusting that you see, and will act in your time. Help me trust your justice, Lord, even when it seems delayed.